The intimidating presence of Police in Melbourne CBD numbering almost as many as the protesters.
A well prepared and voluminous police force made an intimidating presence from early on saturday and maintained it through the weekend of the G20. At 3.45am saturday morning permission was revoked for the Christian Third World and Environment Tent Embassy on Collins St. They were given 5 minutes to leave. 3 people were arrested for not complying. The intimidation tactics continued when protesters were pushed back out of sight and vocal range of the Hyatt Hotel before the crowd had amassed on saturday morning.
The huge police presence became even more dangerous on Sunday when media reports and fear of police reprisals had kept most people away leaving the police free to pick people off the street at will in unmarked vans and to attack small groups of protesters unchecked. Mainstream media reports had done such a good job of demonising protesters that unqualified reports and outright lies snowballed to justify the violent backlash from police.
Footage by Tash, Simon, PC
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philby. (November 20, 2006). Heavy Police presence at G20. Retrieved October 23, 2019, from EngageMedia Web site: http://www.engagemedia.org/Members/philby/videos/police_short.mov.
